Homework Station

The site that I explored was HomeworkStation. I thought this was a great tool to keep kids and parents informed on what is due and when. It is a constant headache for teachers to hear, I didn't know that was due or I forgot. It is also hard to explain to parents that you gave the assignment in class and told everyone to write it down. This tool allows instant documentation as to when an assignment was given and how much time was allowed. It is also a great way to keep students caught up when they have missed a lot of school for one reason or another.

Still, I feel that by doing this it may just create more work for the teacher and enables students by not holding them accountable. As a sixth grade teacher I feel that a big part of my job is to prepare them for middle school. In middle school, most of their teachers won't be this prepared and the kids won't be used to taking care of assignments on their own.

http://www.waveside.com/homework/index.htm

EDU 553

I am really excited about this class! I have been wanting to learn more about what is available for me online to better reach my students and I feel this will help a ton. I am also a little worried about keeping up with the work. I had my first son three weeks ago and he seems to want to eat or be held everytime I start my work. I love being a mom and it is very tempting to sit and hold him when I should be doing this. His name is Drew Robert Paulsen and he was born May 21st. The little stinker waited until the last day of school so I didn't even get time off, but I will like having the whole summer with him.

Final Movie/Podcast URL

I have edited pictures using Adobe Photoshop. The picture of the two girls working was a little dark, so I lighted it using Brightness and Contrast. There was also a glare coming in from the window, so I adjusted this buy using the wand feature to select the glare and I changed the color. On the picture of the girls reading, I cropped out some of the extra background. On the picture of the girl writing on the bulletin board, I used the wand to select the background color and changed it from white to black. Then I used the smudge tool to soften the area around her hair.



Teacher Tube URL http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ea0ef5eb3bc4b799a7b0

This is the URL for my podcast.

Podcast subscription

The podcast that subscribed to this week is "Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts" by Wesley A. Fryer.

The podcast description says, "Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts focus on education, twenty-first century literacy, authentic instruction and technology integration."

I found these episodes to be incredibly helpful. They are full of great ideas on using technology in the classroom. There was an episode built entirely around podcasting, which helps me for this class. The other episode that I am very excited about was digital storytelling for kids. This will help me a lot with teaching writing and incorportating technology into the process to make it more meaningful for them. With over 300 episodes available, I haven't gotten the chance to listen to a majority of them, however I did see a few of them with still pictures, which helps me with my final project. Overall, I'm excited about everything this podcasts offers.

Teacher Tube Video

I really liked this video on Teacher Tube. I often struggle to get kids to love poetry, but this is a way to get them to really like reading poetry. The kids seem to enjoy it. I would also like to see kids reading their own poetry.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=55dc5843ae693e7cdafe

Article Review

This article can be found at http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/pdf/552_CIC_ML_Report.pdf

Windows Movie Maker

For my first try this was a lot of fun-Obviously, I need to work on my camcording skills. Sorry about the sideways shots, my next attempt will be much better. I would have reshot this, but my star was getting bored and wouldn't cooperate. What a fun tool this will be when my baby come so I can send video clips to his grandparents in Minden!

Hello

I am really excited about this class! I think it will be a lot of fun to catch up on the latest technology. I realized that when I started teaching just four years ago, I was the most up to date teacher as far as technology, but now I'm a dinosaur. I haven't learned anything new in so long, it is scary how fast things change!